"It's the ATMOS!" Rhys cried out when I showed up. There was a white mist, some kind of gas, coming from every car in the vicinity.

"Hold on to each other!" I yelled to him and Gwen over the din of everyone else's screams, then grabbed onto them and teleported them into the Hub.

"What the bloody hell—" Rhys began.

"I've got to get Laura," I said, teleporting back out to Central Servers. "Laura!" I called out, having wound up beside her car, which was belching ATMOS gas along with the rest. I could see her mobile on the driver's seat. "Laura," I hit my comms. "Where are you?" She didn't answer, and I had run out of time. People were beginning to pass out from the effects of the gas, and I couldn't tell whether they were dead or merely unconscious. As a last resort, I sent out a loud thought: Laura Harding, can you hear me? I couldn't sense her, though. She was probably unconscious with the rest. Or worse, dead. "Damn it!" I blurted, then teleported back to the Hub.

"Worldwide," Jack was saying when I arrived, coughing. "Sage, where's Laura?"

"Left her mobile in the car and switched off her comms, Jack," I told him tearily. "I couldn't find her and I couldn't sense her. Whatever that gas is, it's got her."

"Loan me your wrist strap," he said.

"Jack, she's gone," I said. "You'll do no one any good if you go out there and die."

"This is probably a mistake, but I'm going to go get John," he clarified. "This is happening on a massive scale, worldwide, and I just got voice-mailed."

I took my Vortex Manipulator off and tossed it to him. "Make sure you find him," I said. "There's about a million cabs in New York with bloody ATMOS installed."

"I will," he said, then was gone. About half a minute later he returned with a rather shell-shocked looking John Hart hanging onto him for dear life.

"I thought John could teleport in here," Gwen remarked as Ianto went to help John into a chair.

"Not under lock-down," Jack clarified. "Trust me, he tried."

"I'm all right, Eye-Candy," John said, sounding a bit irritated. "Where's Sage?"

"I'm here, Johnny," I said, going to him. "Are you really all right?"

"Nothing like getting gassed, teleporting, bouncing off a deadlock seal, getting gassed again, and then getting a last-minute rescue," he quipped. "I didn't think you could get in and out of it; I was hoping Jack would lower it and let me in."

"Front door keys, John," he remarked, tossing me my wrist strap. "We're under lockdown. Only my frequency or Sage's can get in under those circumstances, and my teleport doesn't currently work."

"Your brainy Asian friend's handiwork, I would imagine," he guessed. "She was a wonder... Sage, where's your blonde? You said we had blonde."

"We?" Jack echoed, somehow managing to retain his sarcasm under such tense circumstances.

"I couldn't trace her. She's still out there," I admitted.

"Who's this then?" Rhys inquired.

"A friend," Gwen told him.

"Are you the husband?" John inquired, eyebrow raised.

"Aye," Rhys said. "What of it?"

"Lucky sod," John remarked.

"Jack, do you think it's killing them?" I inquired tearily.

"I don't know," he admitted. "News is off the air. The news crews passed out."

Ianto put his arms around me and pulled me close, but when John started coughing again, I pulled away. "Johnny?" He was starting to go pale and was looking rather blue around the lips. "He needs oxygen," I said. "Someone help me with him!" Jack helped John up, then Ianto took his other arm and slung it over his shoulders. "Of all the times to be without a medic," I blurted. "Johnny, hang on." We got him over to one of the med bays and I put him on oxygen, but he refused to lie down.

"Sit with me, Sage," John said when he was able to talk again. "You don't look so good yourself."

I sat next to him, and he put the oxygen mask over my nose and mouth. I tried to push it off, to make him put it back on, but Jack intervened. "He's right, Sage. Whatever that gas was, it affected you more than you're admitting. And hey, don't stop John Hart when he's in a sharing mood. It almost never happens." Jack clapped him on the shoulder, kissed me on the forehead, and went off to Tosh's desk to check the computer's readings. Jack saw that Martha's mobile had come back onto the grid, but it was far too risky for any of us to venture out of the Hub, so he didn't tell us. He was playing his cards close to his vest, and though I was angry when he later admitted to it, he was ultimately right.

Meanwhile, Ianto was watching me with John, trying to remain stoic, but I could see the look of jealousy and hurt in his eyes. "Ianto," I said when John had the mask back on, "could you get us some water? That stuff is rough on the throat, whatever it is." He started to turn to leave, but I grabbed his hand. "Hey. Come here," I said softly. He looked at me inquiringly, still silent. "Come here," I repeated, my voice soft and pleading. When he was near enough, I leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. "We'll make it through this," I whispered. "I promise."

Ianto kissed me back, twice, then left to get the water I'd asked for, tears still in his eyes in spite of the small, fleeting smile that had crossed his lips.

"He's got it bad for you, Mouth," John said, sounding grave. I pushed his hand back to his face, but he pulled the mask away. "Did you like them? The roses?"

"I love them," I told him, pressing the mask back to his face again. "I put them in Jack's office."

"What? Why?" he asked, sounding offended.

"Because I had them in Ianto's and I was expecting lockdown today. I didn't want them left out there while I was locked in here," I explained.

"You knew disaster was coming and you even thought of the roses?" John inquired. This time he sounded impressed. Very impressed. "You're the better wife," he told me, kissing my cheek. "You and Eye-Candy both. Either of you alone could take better care of that arrogant man than I ever could, but the two of you... Well, I wish I was Jack. Or you. Or even that poor boy who's pretending to be so strong for you," he remarked, as Ianto came our way with two bottles of water. "I hope he appreciates the two of you," John whispered. "I would." Ianto opened one bottle and waited for John to take his arm from my waist to take the water. "You're a good man, Ianto Jones," John said. Ianto looked taken aback. "It's a compliment. Enjoy it. As Jack would tell you, they don't come often."

"Probably because you only compliment with the truth," I pointed out.

John chuckled because he knew I had him pegged; he nearly always lied. "Mouth," he teased.

"Ianto," I asked as I was being handed the second bottle of water, "are Gwen and Rhys all right? They got quite a lungful of that ATMOS stuff themselves."

"They're fine," he reassured me. "You were out of here before Jack had finished saying 'lockdown'."

"Are you sure?" I fretted.

"I promise, Sage. They're fine. Rhys is re-heating left-over pizza and Gwen is pestering Jack. See?" He pointed to each of them.

"What's Gwen pestering Jack about?" I inquired, and Ianto winced. "What? Tell me!"

"Jack's got a lock on Laura's comms even though they're off. You can't get out, though, Sage," he told me, moving my hand as gently as he could away from my wrist strap. "He's locked both your frequencies into the Hub. He called it 110% lockdown."

"Knows her too well," John remarked.

"D'you think Martha's all right?" I pressed.

"UNIT has gas masks, air-tight bunkers... She's as safe as we are, Sage," Ianto told me, but I knew he was just trying to make me feel better.

"She was at the ATMOS factory, Ianto, not a bunker," I reminded him.

"You're right," he conceded. "But we did lose track of her. Maybe because she went somewhere like a bunker, inside the factory. I don't think these people intended to gas themselves."

"Good point," I agreed, punctuating the statement with a cough.

John pressed the oxygen mask into my free hand. "Stay with her, Eye-Candy," he said, getting up. "I think I'll raid your kitchen with Dough-Boy."

Ianto sat at my right and watched John saunter over to the kitchen. He said something that made Rhys laugh, mere moments after having made a sleight about his weight. But that was John. "Do you trust him?" Ianto asked me.

"No," I admitted, "but I know him. What I don't know from experience, I know from Jack. We may need him before all is said and done."

"What do you mean?"

"He thinks differently than the rest of us. Not necessarily better, but different. Different is good. He tends to think of things that would never even cross my mind," I mused.

"Do you love him?" Ianto asked me, and I nearly choked on a sip of water.

"We're friends, Ianto," I replied honestly. "I don't trust him, but I like him, and I don't want him to die. So yeah, I love him, but it's not the same thing. Without trust... it never can be."

Ianto seemed satisfied with that answer, wrapping his arms about my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder. "How did you know about today?" he asked me softly. "You knew before Martha said."

"I saw it. In the Vortex," I murmured, "long ago. But all I saw was fog. It felt evil, and it was fog. When Martha came in yesterday morning, I saw it again, like it had been lurking under the surface of my mind until that moment. That's how I knew we were in danger, but that's all I knew. Martha told me a bit more; about the ATMOS factory, the suspicion of alien intervention... She asked for my help..."

"Why didn't you go?" Ianto prompted me.

"Because she said she was bringing my father in, too. He's UNIT, or was a long time ago. Never officially resigned. I... didn't want to face him yet. I'm going to wait for him to come to me of his own accord. Besides," I added, "you lot still need me."

"Always," Ianto murmured. He stayed with me, just holding me, until Jack called him away to make coffee and see about food other than pizza.

"Y'all right?" Rhys asked me. He'd noticed me sitting by myself, staring at nothing, lost in thought.

"Yes. No," I murmured. "All those people..."

"I know," he remarked. "I saw it in yer eyes the moment you came for us. How many ye'd be leaving behind."

"It's not fair," I whispered.

"Never is," Rhys remarked. "This job of yours... this life... it's made up of hard choices. Sometimes they get to ye and make ye a hard person. It's happening to Gwen. Every day she's a bit tougher, a bit more jaded. But you..."

"Yes?"

"Ye're just so very sad," he pointed out. "Ye can't save everyone, Miss Smith. Ye're just one person. But those of us ye do save... we're grateful for ye, Alien New Girl," he told me with a kind smile.

"Thank you, Rhys," I said softly. "Trust me, you're worth saving."

"Miss Smith..."

"Sage."

"Sage," Rhys started over, "ye can't hold yerself responsible fer the whole world."

"I am, though," I whispered. "It's my job."

"Torchwood—"

"Time Lord," I amended. "My people, before they died out, were responsible for the entire Universe. The whole of existence. For me to keep Earth safe... it's really not so much to ask of me."

"Then take care of yerself, too, miss. If only because we need ye," Rhys murmured, kissing me on the cheek before going back to Gwen.